


Empathy

by kuiske



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies), The Hobbit - All Media Types, The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Gen, Gold Sickness, Khazad October on Tumblr, Permanent Injury, Triple Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-01
Updated: 2015-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-29 08:01:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5120903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kuiske/pseuds/kuiske
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>It was real and there was nothing to be done.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Empathy

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not making money with this. All rights to their respective owners.

Some days all that was left of reality was the throbbing, inescapable agony of the axe in his head.

Some days it hurt so much he could feel his sense of self bleeding out of him until he didn’t know who he was or who all these people around him were or _why_ , why was this happening to him, _why_?

This wasn’t one of those days, but it was bad enough. Being inside helped. This was a dwarven place and no dragon could erase it. The stone was steeped in memory; singing out with grief and _welcome_. 

Erebor was _right_.

*

Thorin wasn’t all right.

No one wanted to say it. No one wanted to see it.

Bifur understood why. Some people wouldn’t look at him either. Some people stayed away when he wasn’t feeling like himself.

 _Stay away. (It could’ve been you.)_

_No, don’t look. (It’s real if you look.)_

Bifur couldn’t help seeing. 

Thorin was at war already. Half an old warrior facing down an enemy he never stood a chance against. Half a lad far too young screaming with his eyes as he drowned in his own blood.

It was real and there was nothing to be done.

*

There was something Bifur knew he had to do for Thorin before they joined the battle.

He signed in deliberate movements he wasn’t always capable of:

**Not your fault.**

Thorin looked startled. Bifur held his eyes and touched the axe in his head. Every unanswered _why me _, every moment of blinding agony and frustration in his life spoken clearer with one gesture than with a thousand of his stolen words.__

__**It’s not a choice, always.** _ _

__**Sometimes we don’t get to decide.** _ _

__Whether Thorin believed him Bifur couldn’t tell._ _

__He looked grateful though, and that’d have to be enough for now._ _


End file.
